Battlefield 3 PC Review.
In closing I would say that Battlefield 3 ups the gaming bar and stands on its own two feet. Its single player experience is stellar, but it fly’s to new heights with its multiplayer experiences.

We got hold of
the PC version and downloaded it digitally from Origin, the EA
store.

A common things used in literature and movies and game story
telling is the flashbacks and flash-forwards. It is used with
good results in Battlefield 3 The game rockets the player into
action right from the start and then jumps around time to tell
the rest of the story, sometimes from the view of other key
players in the battles that take place, often with exciting
results.

Using Frostbite 2 - Battlefield 3 takes it up to an all new
level in visual eye candy. Animation, destruction, lighting,
scale and audio all look spectacular in this game. There are
lens flairs from light sources like look live and part of an
interactive environment. In the pulse pounding opening alone, I
actually took the time to just shoot the crap out of seat
cushions just so I could watch the particle effects. Now in
spite of all the cool visuals though there is some rather
annoying overkill here too. Someone had the idea of adding a
scratched or dust lens effect as if your character was looking
through a camera lese or goggles of some sort. Problem being
when you see the outside animations, half the time there are no
goggles or glasses on. So while this effect used sparingly and
in the right spots would have been just spectacular, used
throughout is just freaking distracting. It is toned down the
further in you play though.

A few other
minor blemishes that distract just ever so slightly are clipping
effects. Some characters run or walk through bits of solid
objects or blasting a bad guy would cause the body to be half in
and out of a wall.

Those aside the story and presentation is spectacular, I measure
things on what keeps my interest, what surprises me in the
story, am I feeling like I am part of some insane action of life
and death in the story? Yes on all points. More than once I
found myself whooping for joy, or excitement. There are little
snippets of soldiering that just are spectacularly done. You
feel like you are part of a team. At one time your part of a
team that has to fire off a mortar round with a flare to signal
an attack on a city, the rush with the rest of the platoon ahead
through rocky ground and trees through incoming mortar rounds is
breathtaking and exciting. Yet another scenario the player takes
on the perspective of a female weapons officer on an F-A 18
Hornet for some air to air combat action and air to ground
attack. All the action is brilliantly presented.

Battlefield 3 has heavy mission based game play going for it
with a very wide range of terrain and locations. New York, Paris
and Tehran are all visited in the game with explosive results.
Vehicle combat is also here armor, and air support infrared
satellite imaging is all here in this Battlefield experience.
While the single player campaign is pretty freaking awesome, the
multiplayer is just off the chain fun.

Both competitive and co-op multiplayer actions support up to 24
players online, and set in the locations available in the single
player experience. The environments throw the players into city
streets and back alley ways, room clearing and hallways in
buildings, metropolitan downtown areas and subways.

Gameplay is bang
on and pays it’s tributes to Bad Company 2 though with some
improvements. Not only visually but subtle things in game play.
Such as going prone, some vehicle control and much better weapon
sights all make this a good leap forward in the franchise.

The story in the single player campaign is very involving. It
brings the player into this world and invests them on some
emotional levels in the gaming and story experience. It’s a
roller coaster ride and I wanna ride again mommy.

While some may see the overall story as unimaginative with some
bad dialogue. I found it to get the job done, and some dialogue
made me smile and nod, knowing that the actor that delivered the
lines was living in that moment, just as if it was or had
happened to them. It scene and or moment in the game combined
with the on screen characters response made me feel emotionally
that close call and the incredulous joy of making it through
without getting jacked up.

Now some of the things that steal away from the experience, to
even getting to play the game and jump right in… Origin. Origin
is Electronic Arts digital distribution service for their games.
On the surface the idea is great and has already been handled in
a spectacular and established fashion by STEAM.

While our experience thus far was a bit on the cumbersome side
we are willing to see what EA does with this system. EA set this
up for gamers to be able to browse the net and EA online, make
EA game purchases and then of course download and play the
games. Just setting up an Origin account was pretty straight
forward and using this application, players can connect and keep
in contact with their gaming friends. It’s new and feels a bit
odd after using STEAM for so long. Downloading Battlefield 3
this way was painless and intuitive; the store even uses PayPal
and most major credit cards.

In the overall
test though the game locked up the first time we tried to load
it up, it went to the main screen where it tells you press enter
to start and no matter what we did it would not load up. The
splash screen just kept reloading over and over again. What we
did, we exited and closed Origin, then launched the game from
the desk top icon. The game took a bit to load up but once it
did we were off and gaming. Once this System gets past the
initial launch and any hiccups it may have, it looks as though
it will be a viable way to get your EA titles.

The only other thing I could think of and no one could be
reached by press time to get a comment one way or the other, is
since loading up the game launches an internet browser window…
does that mean that you won’t have access to your games if there
is no net connection? Joining a game multi player thus far has
brought about some varied results. Origin seemed to make the
whole multiplayer process just that… processes of waiting just
like any other multiplayer.

The game exits after each play session, going to the screen that
each new mission that has been unlocked is available. Once
you’re in a game though the multiplayer experience is
spectacular. I played a game with another player and we did have
some AI assistance, and it felt just stellar. We covered each
other and assisted each other in taking out enemy tanks and RPG
shooters. I would love to see a way to get to know some of the
vehicle controls and practice before jumping in multiplayer. My
next mission was in a cobra gunship which I unceremoniously
crashed on takeoff.

Battlefield 3 on
the graphics and sound effects front with the Frostbite 2 engine
is nothing short of breath taking. We used our new Gaming rig in
the offices here to test this game out and we are glad we did.
We tested the game out on a windows 7 system with an AMD Phenom
II six core processor at 3.20 GHz, and 8 gigs of RAM and a
GeForce GTX 570 3D capable video card running through an HDMI
cable on a full 1080P capable TV. We reviewers bandy about the
term breath taking in reviews many times. Here the term is well
deserved.

The character
models, movements and speaking movements are all far less
robotic this time around. Battlefield 3 character animations are
looking good. If I had some things I would criticize in the game
I would say that the limited configuration in sound is not very
welcome. Instead of being able to raise or lower the sound in
individual categories, there is just an option for raising and
lowering the sound in general. I am a player that likes to lower
the music so it is just hiding in the back ground, not making me
feel like I am just watching a movie.

In closing I would say that Battlefield 3 ups the gaming bar and
stands on its own two feet. Its single player experience is
stellar, but it fly’s to new heights with its multiplayer
experiences. Battlefield 3’s visuals will just about melt your
brain. While the game is not perfection..(What is really?) it
comes very close to gaming bliss. As for Origin the EA game
store and management system and Battlelog, well the jury is
still out and this reviewer is waiting to see what they do with
it.